Suspicious Fire Destroys Old Barn Bought A Decade Ago By Palmer

April 13, 1994|The Morning Call

A suspicious fire early yesterday morning destroyed an old barn purchased by Palmer Township about 10 years ago, township fire officials said yesterday.

The fire also knocked down a Metropolitan Edison high tension line, momentarily interrupting power to about 21,000 customers in Northampton County and cutting off power to about 30 nearby customers for several hours.

Palmer Township Fire Chief and Fire Marshal Jim Young said the barn, which the township used for storage, was "lost" by the time firefighters arrived at the site at 25th Street and Lehigh Drive at around 4 a.m.

"All that was standing were the uprights when we got there," he said. "You could look at it from the front and from the back." He said the ruins of the barn smoldered throughout the day.

Although he said no physical evidence was found indicating the fire was suspicious, Young noted that the barn had no electrical power.

"Why do barns burn at 4 in the morning?" he asked.

Palmer Township Police Chief Bruce Fretz said the fire was called in by a Wilson police officer on patrol nearby.

He said the building housed old storage containers and equipment, but nothing of value was lost to the fire.

Frank Freidl, manager of customer service for Med-Ed's Easton District, said the fire caused the 115,000-volt high tension line to fall to the ground. While falling, the wire hit a second wire of 4,800 volts which served nearby customers, he said. Automatic relay devices designed to cut power to the line were then activated, he said.

Freidl said the 21,000 customers who experienced the brief interruption were out of power for about ten seconds. Those who were out of power for several hours had their electricity restored by about 10:30 a.m., he said.

He said yesterday afternoon that the high tension wire should be repaired by evening.

Assisting with the fire were the Williams Township Fire Company and Suburban EMS, Young said.